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September 8, 2020

The Billings Ovulation Method® in sports

The Billings Ovulation Method® (BOM) is a natural approach to fertility and planning for your family. In a direct way the method encourages couples to become more aware of the female body and the changes occurring indicating fertility, infertility and/or other reproductive health issues that may be present.

Indirectly, though unspoken, is the possibility that the male will also be encouraged to attend to their reproductive health issues.

The story of creation in the book of Genesis is the story of God using His supernatural approach towards creation. Furthermore, Adam was created using the earth (a natural approach) and Eve with the rib of Adam, a bond that could not be broken.

The BOM follows this line of teaching of God: bonding of couples, taking note (charting) of the woman’s fertility and creating a new being from the two individuals naturally.

The coach of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team, which won the 2019 World Cup, used the information coming from the players’ fertility health to address nutrition and exercise needs of each individual player (Lindsay Schlegel, 2019).

Athletes who are overworked and not eating enough are at risk of developing amenorrhea (no menstrual period). Instead of shutting down their cycle by using synthetic hormones and have fake bleeding periods that are not natural, their coach decided on a different path that would prove to be healthier for these young women.

Through tracking the players’ complete menstrual cycles (including all four phases of the cycle), the coach saw issues that affected their performance consistently each cycle.

Symptoms such as “more energy, less energy, poor sleep, cravings for junk food, moodiness, and so on” that occur at certain times of the cycle are not just women being women but signs that can lead to diagnoses and problem-solving.

If the player knows more than just when her menstrual period is coming, but rather knows what the various patterns of cervical mucus mean, then that useful information can guide their nutrition and identify ovulatory problems such as Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome and Endometriosis.

At a local level if this approach is done in our sporting programmes and if it can be of benefit is something that may need to be studied.

The BOM is the best approach to use particularly with such a study as in-person and online instructions on this Method are readily available here in Trinidad and Tobago.

Also noteworthy for us as a country was shown by Camille Hunte’s Trinidad Express article, October 17, 2019, Sean O’Brien (Director of  the Central Statistical Office) indicated that Trinidad and Tobago’s fertility rate was declining and “amongst the lowest in the Caribbean”.

A declining and low fertility rate should be of concern to us as citizens since our developmental needs depend not only on having healthy citizens but those in appropriate numbers and ages.

The BOM combines the God-centred approach and the need to become more fertility health-conscious. As citizens and couples planning our families let us become advocates for the natural way of fertility. Let us reverse the statistics highlighted by Sean O’Brien for our country and let us do our part to create emotionally healthier couples and families.

Happy belated Independence Day, Trinidad and Tobago!

Contact BOMA-TT: 384-1659, email: billingstt@gmail.com, website: www.billingstt.com